Escaped inmates recaptured in Coolidge, Arizona cotton field

Two inmates who were the subject of a manhunt after escaping from an Arizona prison in Florence last weekend were recaptured Thursday in a cotton field in the nearby community of Coolidge, authorities said. Coolidge police and US sub marshals captured David T. Harmon and John B. Charpiot after police received calls from several residents who said they saw the inmates.

Officers who were in the area working on an unrelated fugitive case responded to the reports. Police spotted Harmon and Charpiot in a cotton field 14 miles from the prison.

The detainees refused orders to take to the ground, tried to escape and were captured after officers used stun guns to subdue them, authorities said.

US Marshal David Gonzales said the detainees asked the police to kill them.

“Both of them said, ‘Just shoot me on me,’” Gonzales said.

Police video taken in the cotton field showed one inmate falling to the ground before his capture and the other being attacked by officers.

Both detainees were in need of medical attention, Coolidge Police Commander Mark Tercero told the Casa Grande Dispatch. In a photo taken after the detainees were captured, one had blood on his face.

Harmon and Charpiot had escaped from a medium security unit at the Arizona State Penitentiary Complex in Florence on Saturday using tools to break through a fence. Coolidge is 8 miles southwest of Florence.

Authorities are investigating where the prisoners went after their escape, and state prison officials are also examining how the escape occurred and how to prevent a similar violation in the future.

Frank Strada, deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reintegration, said he was not aware of any information showing that correctional staff helped the couple escape . No correctional staff has been suspended or terminated due to the security breach.

Tercero said a local man called police to tell them he was following two men he believed to be the escapees and a woman called police separately to report that her parents’ home had just been robbed by two men who fled on foot. A third person called the police to say he was chasing the men, Tercero said.

Tercero said state officials would determine whether the callers would be eligible for the $ 70,000 reward offered for information leading to the capture of the detainees.

Authorities looking for detainees have previously carried out 800 door-to-door searches of homes in Florence’s prison area.

The State Department of Public Safety said inmates attempted to rob a Florence business on Saturday night before fleeing when a clerk shouted for help.

Harmon was jailed in 2012 after being sentenced to 100 years for kidnapping and second-degree burglary in Maricopa County. Charpiot was sent to jail in 2011 for 35 years after being convicted of child sexual assault and sexual abuse in the same county.